My daughter is gap yearing. She’s in Koh Tao, Thailand, and is having trouble with getting cash out of ATMs. She gets the message: ‘Transaction cancelled. Contact issuing bank’. Before she went, we set up a joint account, so that if anything like this happened, I would be allowed to get any information needed.
I have contacted the bank, who tell me that there is nothing wrong with her account, and that there are sufficient funds available.
Any ideas about where we can go from here? She’s obviously a bit stuffed if she can’t access her money.
Just saw this. Geez, is everyone on Koh Tao now? The sister of I Have Hippos in My Garden is there now, too. And she and her boyfriend had banking and other problems.
I don’t know why it’s not working if the home branch said the account was okay. Usually, this sort of thing is because a computer in the bank in the home country flagged that someone in Thailand was suddenly trying to access it. But it sounds like the bank thinks it should work. Could be a bad ATM. Koh Tao is sort of the boonies despite lots of tourists, so they’re not always up to date there.
May have to resort to wiring some cash. It’s almost the weekend, so that would have to be done soon.
This is why I always recommend carrying some travelers’ checks even in this day and age. And a credit card or two for backup. I’ve had ATM cards eaten by machines before, here and in the US.
EDIT: Has she tried asking the bank that the ATM belongs to?
And I assume you did mention to the bank that your daughter is in Thailand? On the off chance you didn’t, then tell them, so they can see if their computer did just that, flagged the transaction. Thailand is a big center for fraud, and bank computers often react.
Thanks Siam. Yes, we told the bank that she was going there, and they have that recorded.
I’m Hippo’s Dad, and it’s her sister, my daughter, who we’re talking about.
I’ve just spoken to her, and the ATM problem seems to be intermittent: she’s just withdrawn cash successfully.
She’s been having a hell of a time, though. She’s crashed a quad bike, which landed on top of her. She’s OK, but most of the skin on her back has been torn. She’s very shaken, but fortunately walking wounded.
Who’d have daughters gap-yearing. I told her that a day trip to the seaside here in the UK would be just as good. But does she listen? No! What’s Thailand got that Bognor Regis hasn’t? Apart from sun, tropical seas, interesting food, a new culture, fascinating scenery…
D’Oh! :smack: So that explains it. Well, not so much of a coincidence then.
I’m glad your daughter was finally able to access the ATM. Technology can be rather intermittent on the islands, and it sounds like it’s a case of that. However, as I told Hippos in her thread, I strongly urge her to have them check her over in a proper Western facility once back here in Bangkok. I don’t think there’s anything that can properly be called a hospital on Koh Tao, just some clinics. In Bangkok, BNH and Samitivej hospitals are top of the line by anyone’s standards and not as expensive as in the West.(Bumrungrad gets a lot of publicity, but I would never recommend them; I and too many others have had problems with them.)
I’d told Hippos, too, that Samitivej had a branch in Phuket, which might suit your daughter better, being also in the South, but I see now it’s actually a branch of Bangkok Hospital, also a good one from what I hear, but I’ve never used it. It is affiliated with Samitivej. In Phuket, it’s called Bangkok Hospital Phuket. I would still probably prefer a hospital in Bangkok, though. BNH and Samitivej are the only two I can give a personal recommendation for.